Shinobi of Steel
by Bakkughan
Summary: The Steel Release allows for the user to shape metal to his whims. The Magnet Release allows the user to manipulate it as he pleases. What happens when you combine the two? The Elders of the Tachi Clan, famous for their Steel Release and honestly not much else, were curious as well. And with the birth of Tachi Amakuni, the world is about to find out.


**Chapter 1: A sword is made, a team is forged**

How do you start a story?

When you have a tale to tell, full of desperate heroes, terrifying villains, a world embroiled in war and on the brink of destruction, how would you even begin?

Well, at the beginning I suppose.

When people think about the Elemental Nations, usually their minds immediately snap towards the Big Five: the lands of Wind, Fire, Earth, Water and Lightning. Not without reason, for not only were they physically the largest nations on the continent, they were also undisputed the most powerful ones.

Though which one amongst themselves was the most powerful was the cause for endless debate and to date Three World Wars.

Some of their might could be accredited to the vast lands and people their Daimyo's could command, and thus the armies they could raise, which were sometimes orders of magnitude larger than what the lesser countries could hope to field.

However, the most deciding factor in the dominion of the Big Five were their Ninja Villages. A single, well-trained Genin, the lowest rank amongst ninja, was capable of taking on a small group of bandits.

A single Chunin could take on entire gangs by themselves, and the higher tiered amongst them could even level city-blocks.

Jounin were straight up army killers. Usually this didn't really come to light all that often, since Jounin were far too valuable to be wasted on slaughtering non-shinobi, and were instead used primarily as counter-measures for enemy Jounin. However, the fact remained that these elite killers could slay hundreds of regular forces within the blink of an eye.

And then there were those that were beyond Jounin. The Kage-level monsters, hiding in human guise. Whenever these titans of battle clashed, the landscape itself would forever be changed.

There were accounts of such elites shattering mountains with a single blow, who could summon battle companions larger than a small town, who were able to literally turn their opponents into less than dust.

And the Great Five each had armies of these monsters at their beck and call.

So while perhaps unjust, the domination of the Great Five over the other Elemental Nations was not undeserved.

Which is why most of the lesser Nations usually went unnoticed and uncredited in the grand scheme of things.

It was in just one such Nation that I was born.

The only thing that the Land of Steel was notable for was its close proximity to the Land of Iron, Home of the Samurai, and it's unnaturally high ore deposits. It was basically one huge mine onto itself.

There were multiple legends surrounding the origin of all that metal in the ground, the most popular being that in ancient times there was a giant made of rock and with bones of iron, who was felled here by a legendary hero. His flesh became the earth, while his bones became the ore deposits for which my country was known.

The reason this myth was so popular, was because the second part of the myth stated that from the giant's seed a race of people sprung up from the ground, a people who could turn their bodies into steel and who could control the bones of their father with unnatural ease.

The people of the Steel Release.

My people.

The Land of Steel had no Hidden Village. For one, we simply weren't large enough to reasonably sustain one. Secondly, we didn't necessarily need one as we were protected by the Samurai of the Land of Iron. While they had ore deposits of their own, their steel could never manage to equal the superior metal that came from our fires and we had a very long history of forging their most legendary blades and armor.

However, just because we didn't have a Village, didn't mean we didn't have any ninja.

The Tachi Clan had called the Land of Steel their home since before the Warring Clans Era, their ability to shape the rich ore-deposits to their will with unmatched skill granting them a lot of goodwill and autonomy with the Daimyo of that time.

At first it was only our Clan Compound, situated in a large crater-like indention, nestled in between the rolling hills and ragged cliffs of the Land of Steel, hidden safely from view.

But as our family grew, so did our Compound and our mining. Soon, more and more people flocked to our banner. Miners, metalsmiths, even jewelers, they all came to our Clan, wishing to profit from our mining and metalworking.

Soon, individual ninja, not tied to any Clan or Village trickled in as well, and settled down amongst the mines and factories of our home. And our Village Hidden in the Blades was born.

While we were still not as large as even a fraction of the Major Hidden Villages, our Clan still counted a respectable amount of around 500 men under its banner. Most of these people weren't ninja, just people who mined for us, or traded our superior steel to the rest of the Nations, or one of thousands of things needed to sustain the largest mining corporation on the continent.

The Tachi Clan consisted of about 60 members, and there were another 30 or so ninja who were allied with us, coming from every walk of life, or having settled with the Tachi Clan during the Warring Clans Era for protection and simply never leaving.

Most members of the Tachi Clan had the Steel Release, but it didn't always manifest the same way or with the same strength in everyone. We didn't really know why, but our Elders suspected because our Steel Release wasn't a true kekkei genkai. There were reports of various ninja outside of our Clan also using the Steel Release, allowing them to manipulate metals, and summon steel.

However, my Clan as a whole definitely had an unusual affinity for the Steel Release, as almost everyone was able to use it, an abnormally high percentage of different people capable of the same unique nature transformation.

However, simply having a higher affinity for a non-Kekkei Genkai transformation wasn't enough to survive and remain independent in this harsh world, Samurai or no Samurai to protect us. While my Clan counted around 50 people, only half of us were professional ninja. Most of my family simply used their Steel Release to either help with mining or with working the metal, sometimes with their bare hands.

We couldn't all be professional ninja: we simply didn't get enough missions for that. Most foreign nations took their business to the Great Villages, including their really high-ranking missions (and thus, their high- _paying_ missions), due to them being a safe bet.

If you wanted a village wiped off the map, you'd go to the home of the woman who had cracked mountains in half with a single blow, not to some small mining family with less than a hundred active ninja.

So those of us that had a really high affinity for the Steel Release were trained and tested mercilessly, trying to see if our strength would be sufficient to keep the Clan safe and maybe make a name for ourselves.

If not, it was back to the mines and the forges for you.

We didn't have an Academy or anything like that, we didn't even really have Jounin-sensei. There simply weren't enough people, and the handful of ninja that could qualify as Jounin were way to busy and valuable to be wasted on a bunch of brats just growing into their power.

What we did have, though, was an entire Clan, hell-bent on carving out their little piece of the world in this realm of war, and protecting it to their last breath.

Every few years, some children would be born, who after they were deemed old enough, were trained by everybody who had knowledge and skill, and the time to impart them on the next generation.

Those few of us who became ninja simply _had_ to be a cut above the rest; people didn't really bring their business to our Village as a whole, but to those individuals that had caught their attention. We needed to get our names out there, because the name of our Village simply couldn't compete against those of the Big Five.

Most Lesser Nations used this system, Rain Country with their legendary Hanzo the Salamander being a perfect example.

How does this info-dump relate to me, or the story I need to tell?

Well, as I said, it's best to start at the beginning, and my beginning had been planned out years before I had even been born.

A few decades ago, my Clan, and thus the Hidden Blade Village got involved in the Second Shinobi World War. In this war, some of my clan members came across wielders of the Magnet-release. Like our Release, the Magnet Release wasn't a kekkei genkai per se, though it was usually encountered in either Wind or Lightning Country.

As you might expect, they were our worst match-up in battle; every move we made, every technique we used simply gave them more ammo to use against us. That was a dark time in our history, and to this day we don't like discussing it, though we never forgot it.

Which is why, when the Third Shinobi World War rolled around, we immediately rose to the occasion, and made sure to side with the largest group of Magnet-users participating in the fighting. In this case, this meant allying with Wind, and Fire by association.

We were a terrifying combo. There aren't many of us, certainly not enough to swing the tide of a World War on our own, so we weren't all that prominently featured in the history books, especially with legends such as the Yellow Flash winning the war all by themselves.

But by Kami, were we terrifying in our own right.

Whenever we teamed up with the Magnet-users, the enemy was treated to literal storms of metal blades, tearing up everything in sight with a brutality that was unmatched.

And when the Third World War ended in victory for us and our allies, we executed the second part of our master-plan.

The reason people say that all is fair in love and war, is because the two can be surprisingly similar. There's even a pretty good chance that the first might bloom in the latter.

In fact, the Elders had counted on it.

It had taken all of five years to have a marriage contract drawn up between one of the Tachi men, and a Magnet-Release user from Suna.

The reason it had taken just five years for us to get Suna to release one of their ninja to us was because Magnet-Release wasn't a true kekkei genkai: neither Suna nor we had any guarantee that the woman's affinity would breed true, so there weren't any real hang-ups on her leaving her home Village beyond the usual.

The reason it had taken an agonizingly long five years for the woman to be released to our Clan was because she was taking her family with her, which included, amongst others, her active duty father (no special release) and her two siblings (one active duty sister and non-active brother, both with Magnet Release). This was both a blow to Suna's forces and a security risk to my Clan.

A single ninja well-versed in the Magnet Release could do catastrophic damage to us once they were within the naturally formed walls that protected our Hidden Village.

However, after a lot of negotiating, vetting, assurances and accusations, the Suna woman and her family were welcomed into the Clan both physically and through marriage in one giant celebration that lasted well over three days.

The reason the Elders had been so insistent on one of the Tachi members marrying a Magnet-user was because they understood we desperately needed a legendary ninja of our own, just like Rain had had Hanzo, if we were to last through the next inevitable Shinobi World War.

And the union of Steel-Release and Magnet-Release would hopefully provide such a ninja.

Nine months after the celebration of the marriage between the Suna woman and Tachi man, their hope for a legendary Tachi warrior had been born.

Nine months after the celebration, I had been born.

My name is Tachi Amakuni.

And I am destined to become the greatest warrior my people have ever seen.

* * *

Of course I was just a baby, without a clue I was supposed to be the salvation of my clan, so I simply behaved like any other infant; which involved a _lot_ of crying, and very little peace and quiet for my parents.

Or anyone else really.

Of course, once I grew somewhat older I became less of a loudmouth, on some level recognizing the great burden on my shoulders, even if I didn't really understand it. I studied every aspect of the Steel and Magnet release that I could find, absorbed every scrap of information I could get my grubby little hands on. I didn't just study ninjutsu books, I also tried to force my way through the few books we had on electricity and magnetism in the Clan library.

Sadly, the study of physics wasn't something that was either wide-spread or far along, so there wasn't really all that much for me to find, but it did increase my understanding of Magnetism itself, not just the jutsu aspect of it.

My unorthodox way of learning and thinking eventually led to me approaching ninjutsu theory in a rather… unique manner. I'd like to call my way of thinking sensible.

Everyone else calls it overkill.

Not all that long after my first birthday, my aunt announced that she had fallen in love with one of the individual ninja's that were allied with my clan, much to the disappointment of the Elders, some of whom even openly wept at the news (alcohol had been richly flowing for the adults at my party).

Not all that long after my second birthday, my niece, Saza Kayoko was born. Like me, she had jet black eyes, but where my hair was as black as my eyes, her hair had a more greyish tint to it. Unlike me, Kayoko was a very quiet and serious child, barely making a peep for the first few months after she had been born.

Which caused her parents all kind of sleepless nights of their own.

When I went to visit her after she had been born, she had been swaddled in thick fluffy blankets, with only her face and a tuft of hair managing to stick out. One of the Elders, still hungover from my birthday party only a few days ago, tripped when leaning over her cradle, causing him to gracelessly smack into the floor face first in his desperate flailing trying not to fall on top of my newborn niece.

Kayoko took one stern look at the elder, before making the first sound since she had been born; a small chuckle. From then on, we both held our birthdays in one big celebration, and we became like siblings to one another.

By the time my 10th birthday rolled around both me and Kayoko had been taught to unlock our chakra. The Elders were getting antsy, so our affinities were tested as soon as possible.

Kayoko had the Magnet Release, just like her mom, aunt and uncle. This made most women of the clan eye my uncle with a hungry look, since there was a pretty big chance his affinity would breed true.

This made my uncle both very happy and _very_ scared.

My affinity was cause for an impromptu celebration (for which once more, alcohol flowed richly and freely) when it turned out I had both the Steel-Release and the Magnet-Release, just like the Elders had hoped.

However, I was still just a 10 year old kid, I had no idea what it meant when a slip of paper that had been shoved in my hands turn a silvery material, that then started floating above my open palm with a barely audible hum.

I just went out to play ninja with Kayoko.

Of course, as she and I were beginning to be trained more and more extensively, our playing slowly turned into outright sparring.

Kayoko was determined to master the Iron Sand techniques, whereas I was training to achieve the Steel Release: Impervious Armor technique, which had put the Tachi clan on the map, and made the local people believe that we were the offspring of the giant whose very body made the earth beneath our feet.

Both of our ambitions were actively encouraged by the clan and our parents. My clan saw my achieving of the Impervious Armor technique as the first step in becoming the most famous Tachi ninja in history, and my mom and her sister were proud of Kayoko studying the techniques of their original home country.

Kayoko however was only able to support a thin little cloud of iron particles, and I hadn't even managed to turn my pinky into unyielding steel. That didn't mean we weren't making progress. We were the only clan children to have been born in quite a while, which meant that most of the clan were able to make some time free for us whenever our parents weren't training us or out on missions.

We were taught all the basics first, all the stuff that the non-shinobi were taught as well, such as math and writing. An illiterate ninja was a useless ninja after all. However, once all of that material was crammed into our skulls at breakneck speeds, then came the real training.

Trapping, tracking, hand signs and cryptography, everything our parents knew, they passed onto us, and everything they didn't know, they found someone else who did.

By the time I was 12, the age where most children in the Great Ninja Villages become Genin, we were pretty well versed in the bare bone basics of ninja-hood, and starting making progress on our family techniques as our chakra pools slowly started to increase.

One day, both Kayoko were once again playing ninja, though things were getting quite serious and heated, as it turned more and more into outright sparring.

Like I said, Kayoko still had trouble with using the Iron Sand that she had begun to create, but that didn't mean any of her other skills weren't up to par, or that she didn't find any other uses for her Magnet Release.

I threw a brace of shuriken at her (forged by myself, of course, I did come from a Clan of metalworkers after all) but Kayoko didn't even bother to dodge, instead placing her hands in the Ram Seal, flexing her small chakra pool, and making the shuriken simply bend around her using her Magnet Release.

However, as impressive as it was for a little child to use an elemental transformation technique, she still had to remain stationary as she used it, so I sped forward the moment she made the handseal, whipping out a pair of blunted kunai (made by yours truly) as I closed in on her form.

Instead of releasing the handseal in order to fall back and create some room between her and me so I couldn't use my bigger frame to my advantage in a Taijutsu confrontation, Kayoko simply narrowed her eyes above her navy blue scarf, which concealed her lower face.

Before I had a chance to dodge, the shuriken she had bend around her came full circle, speeding back at my unprotected form.

It caught me off guard, I'll freely admit. I hadn't figured she'd be able to keep that many objects under her control simultaneously long enough to use them in her own counter-attack.

But being caught off guard does not mean being helpless.

Like most of the Tachi clan members I wore a mix of metal plating and traditional shinobi attire. In my case, this meant a heavy open jacket over a metal breast and back plate. Dropping my kunai in favor of clasping my hands in a Ram Seal of my own, I drew the magnetized shuriken towards my breastplate, making them stick there.

Closing the last meters between me and Kayoko, looking like a demented porcupine with all those shuriken stuck to my breastplate, I tackled my incredulous looking niece to the ground, making her grunt in surprise.

Pinning her underneath my larger frame and significantly heavier weight (I had metal plates on my shoulders as well, and covering my thighs, shins and forearms), I quickly grabbed one of the shuriken on my breastplate and raised it above my head.

Using my other hand to focus my chakra as well as I possibly could, I used my Steel Release on the small shuriken, quickly enlarging until it rivalled a Fuuma shuriken in size.

"Do you yield?" I asked my pseudo-sister with a smirk, which couldn't really be seen behind my plain facemask.

My expression quickly faded as I saw that Kayoko had a smirk of her own.

"Do you?"

Feeling a pressure on my stomach, I saw she was holding a very sharp looking tanto just underneath where my shuriken-riddled breastplate ended, my soft skin being protected by nothing more than a mesh shirt.

Not something that would stand up to a Tachi crafted blade.

I sighed. "Draw?" I asked resignedly as I got off of Kayoko and offered her my hand.

She grasped it, pulling herself up with a grunt, before her expression smoothed out again, the tanto disappearing back into the wide sleeves of her baggy jacket. Despite the climate of the Land of Steel being somewhat frigid, Kayoko had taken to wearing the desert garb both her and my mom still wore, though Kayoko wore it with the usual Tachi alterations.

In her case, this meant that the fabric of her jacket and scarf were finely woven through with metal wire, offering some protection, but more importantly allowing her to use them as weapons, as well as having both ends of her scarf capped in razor-sharp plates.

She had to wear these baggy clothes in order to accommodate the Iron Sand she always carried on her person. Either that, or wear a gourd, something our mothers had both advised against from personal experience.

"A gourd is not only a big target, basically screaming to your opponent; 'look, this is vital to my arsenal, please destroy it!', it's also something that's fairly easily separated from you. Your clothes are significantly more difficult to remove." My mother had said in a sage-like manner when Kayoko had decided to try and master the Iron Sand techniques.

Dusting herself off, Kayoko glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, one brow raised in challenge.

"If it makes you feel better, sure, let's call that a draw." She said, amusement lining her voice.

I simply grumbled as I picked off the shuriken that were still stuck to my breast-plate, inspecting each one with a critical eye, checking for cracks, chips and scratches.

"Amakuni! Kayoko! I told you to wait until you were picked up for the ceremony! Look at your clothes! And your hair! And your _face_! Hit the showers, right _now_!" a voice suddenly thundered over the small courtyard me and Kayoko had been sparring in, making me drop my shuriken with a yelp of surprise, while Kayoko simply stiffened next to me.

Standing with her hands on her hips and with a furious expression on her face stood my mother, glaring at both me and my niece as we scuffed our sandals, unable to look her in the eye. My mother was a rather plain woman, all things considered, except for her metallic gray hair, a trait mirrored in the rest of her family as well, Kayoko included.

Not me though. Except for my facial features, I looked Tachi trough and trough, with my untamable spiky black hair, dark eyes and tanned skin.

"Sorry mom. We just had to wait really long and we got bored. The ceremony doesn't start until nightfall anyway." I hedged, but my mother wasn't having any of it.

"You getting bored is no excuse for you to scuff and dirty your clothes! I don't have to tell you the significance of this ceremony do I? I will not have my children running around like a bunch of hooligans in front of the Elders during one of the most important events of our clan!"

"Kami knows those judgmental bastards are looking at my every move already, just waiting for me to slip up." She murmured to herself. Me and Kayoko wisely pretended we didn't hear that last bit, instead dutifully hitting the showers, while servants quickly made sure our clothes were presentable once more.

While we weren't really all that much of a powerhouse in terms of military might, we were as a Clan still fairly well of, some of our mines digging up precious stones instead of superior steel. We weren't obscenely rich, like say the Hyuuga were rumored to be, but we weren't exactly struggling in the money department either.

Servants though, were only reserved to the upper elechons of the Clan. Which I belonged to due to my father being the son of one of the current Elders. Technically Kayoko didn't really have the same rank as I did, due to both her parents not being part of the Clan: despite being my niece once removed, she didn't have a drop of Tachi blood in her.

However, my mother _was_ an important figure, due to being the breeding ground for the Elders' dream of superpowered Tachi members, and as such had some weight to throw around, though at the time I had absolutely no grasp of the finer inner Clan policies and intricacies.

Mom had made sure that her entire family would be treated as well as she was, and that of course included her sister, her sister's husband and now Kayoko. It certainly helped that Kayoko's dad was a descendant of one of the independent ninja who allied with us way back in the Warring Clans Era.

Stepping out of the shower and dressing in my freshly cleaned clothes, I looked outside to gleefully see the sun setting over the edge of the high walls of the caldera which sheltered my home from the outside world.

The ceremony which had my mom in nerve-filled frenzy for the past month started the moment the sun had fully disappeared underneath the edge of the crater, when we traditionally lit our forges, symbolizing the lighting our world with our own fire, instead of the fire of the sun.

The ceremony itself? Well, in most Elemental Nations, in order to become Genin, you had to do a test of some sort. This test varied wildly from Nation to Nation, and sometimes even just between different teachers, but in the end, if you passed and managed to become Genin, it would be symbolized by receiving a headband.

We didn't give out headbands.

We forged our own sword.

While we weren't like the honorable samurai (having managed to hold our own in a world where if you weren't cheating, you're not trying) we did pick up some of their mannerisms, such as wearing significantly more armor than the average shinobi. We also were quite a big fan of swords (though we had yet to produce a kenjutsu master of the caliber of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, we were rumored to have had a hand in the creation of their Swords).

So whenever someone within the Clan was deemed ready to officially start their ninja-career, they would go to our ancestral forge, and after long meditation, craft their own blade, choosing from a plethora of metals that we had dug up from our deepest and most secret mines. Like samurai, we had a deep bond with our blade, believing them to be tied to our very soul, and once someone had made such a sword, it was a very rare thing he would ever create another, except of course should the blade break.

We were traditional, not fools, if your blade broke, you just made another one.

Being of similar age, and the only ones in our age group (the next oldest children were already almost out of their teens, while the next youngest were a set of twins born around eight months ago), me and Kayoko would both forge our blades during the same ceremony.

Walking towards where my mother was nervously waiting by the door, I checked the stance of the sun again. It had almost sunken beneath the edge of the caldera, it's golden light illuminating our Compound for the final time that day.

The ceremony was about to begin.

* * *

The ceremony was always held in the village square, where my forefathers had founded their first smithy. The Village eventually grew around it, with larger, more modern smithies and even a factory springing up, but the old smithy was still in use, though it had taken on a more ceremonial role these days.

We didn't really use it all that much, except for special orders, or traditions such as this one.

There was a crowd waiting when me and Kayoko arrived, our parents and the rest of our family having gone ahead, waiting for us amongst the other villagers. We tried to hide our nervousness at all those eyes fixed on us, aided marginally by my facemask and Kayoko's scarf, coming to a halt in front of the double doors of the First Forge.

I was so caught up in my musings (how will by blade look? What will mom and dad think of it? What if I run out of time or something?) that it took Kayoko subtly elbowing me in the ribs for me to notice that there was another boy around our age standing in front of the ancient smithy.

Like me, he had a wild mane of untamable hair, though his was a rusty brown, a color mirrored by his eyes. He wore no shirt, though he had what I recognized as smith's leather apron on, which, combined with his powerful frame and heavy tool belt around his waist, led me to believe this was one of the ninja who worked for my Clan in one of our numerous forges.

While we were only a small Village, it didn't really surprise me that I didn't recognize the boy. I had basically grown up within the walls of the Compound, being trained from sunup to sundown every day, barring short trips to the market occasionally.

Seeing that the kid was visibly nervous, shifting his weight constantly while chewing his lip, I decided to introduce myself. We couldn't really do anything but wait until we were called in one by one to work with the First Forge, so there was no real harm in trying to make the boy feel more at ease.

Hell, maybe it would make me feel more at ease as well.

"Hello, my name is Tachi Amakuni, this is my niece Saza Kayoko. What is your name?" I asked, holding out a hand to shake.

The kid was visibly startled, before hesitantly shaking my outstretched hand.

"Hi, my name is Kensaku Kintamaru."

"Hello Kintamaru-san, nice to meet you." I said politely, before I engaged in small talk, Kayoko not really saying anything though I could tell she was paying close attention to our conservation.

I learned that Kintamaru's dad was indeed a smith, though his mom died when he was young. Kintamaru had learned how to work metal before he had learned how to walk, and was discovered to have a respectable chakra pool at a young age.

Deciding to try and spread the name and fame of his father's shop throughout the world by becoming a ninja, Kintamaru had trained his ass off, eventually revealing a minor Steel Release affinity. He would never be able to rival the feats that I eventually would be able to do with the Release, but it still allowed him to do rather incredible things when combined with his smithing experience.

"I call it, the Rain-of-Senboninator! Fires a volley of 10 senbon every 2 seconds, at Chunin level speeds! The ammo is easily reloaded, while the kick-back is virtually non-existent, allowing for a smooth, continuous firing! Prickly death for everyone!"

Apparently, my new friend is somewhat of an inventor.

If one with terrible naming sense, unfortunately.

Our lively conversation was cut short when the double doors opened with a heavy, ominous creak. The muted murmuring of the crowd died away, until we were standing in complete silence.

A large figure stood in the door opening, silhouetted against the flames of the First Forge, the greatest light source around now that the sun had set, and most of our lanterns remaining unlit for this ceremony.

This was the First Smith, one of the founders of the Village Hidden in the Blades. Of course, The First Smith was actually just a title, passed on from generation to generation, always given to the most accomplished smith in the Hidden Village, personally selected and groomed by the previous First Smith.

"Kensaku Kintamaru, it is time for you to bare your soul and forge your blade. Step into the First Forge." the large figure rumbled in a deep voice, without any emotion in its speech.

Kintamaru audibly gulped, before squaring his shoulders and passing the First Smith without looking back. The doors to the First Forge suddenly slammed shut with a deafening bang, once again leaving absolute silence in its wake.

It felt as if we had to wait ages for something to happen, as from within the First Forge came nothing else but the sound of hammer striking metal and the sound of the bellow, fanning the flame of the smithy.

After an eternity of waiting, during which the crowd still hadn't even made a peep, the double doors suddenly slammed open, the imposing figure of the First Smith standing tall once more at the entrance.

His face was unreadable and his voice without emotion as he called out to the crowd.

"Kensaku Kintamaru has bared his soul to the First Forge and crafted a blade from its flame."

In response the assembled crowd burst out into loud cheering and clapping, that one sentence meaning that Kintamaru had passed his final test and was now officially recognized as a ninja of the Village Hidden in the Blades.

The lowest in rank and the greenest perhaps, but still.

Shuffling past the First Smith, the bedraggled and exhausted form of Kintamaru walked out of the ancient smithy, a tired but satisfied smile on his face. Dragging behind him, sparks flying up from contact with the ground, was a truly enormous zanbato, sending the crowd into an even bigger frenzy.

From what I knew of the ceremony, the forging of your first sword was more primal and instinctual than any intellectual effort at creating a weapon. It was seen as your soul made manifest. Due to the young age most people completed the ceremony at, most weapons tended to be rather ordinary, though of unparalleled quality.

Such an unique and large weapon such as Kintamaru had forged was seen as a sign of a very powerful soul and a good luck omen for his career and by extension the Village as a whole.

Creating a zanbato roughly twice your size could be seen as the equivalent of winning every single lottery out there.

The bone-tired Kintamaru came to a halt next to me and Kayoko, heaving his new weapon up with difficulty before stabbing it into the ground. With a grateful sigh the young inventor/ninja slid down to rest against the wide blade, giving me a thumbs-up before closing his eyes with a grin.

Before I could wonder whether or not the boy was simply resting his eyes or had finally passed out, the powerful voice of the First Smith rang out once more.

"Saza Kayoko, it is time for you to bare your soul and forge your blade. Step into the First Forge."

Next to me Kayoko briefly closed her eyes, letting out a heavy breath, before she too straightened her back and entered the smithy with her head held high.

Once again the doors slammed shut, and once again I was forced to just stand there and wait, though this time the crowd couldn't quite contain its whispering, many of them pointing at Kintamaru's bizarre creation, which I could now see wasn't just a really large zanbato.

From tip to handle, it was approximately five to six feet long, with a single-edged large blade around one foot wide. It's design was incredibly simple at first hand, but as I looked closer, I could see what appeared to be several slots and mounts on the huge blade.

"Kintamaru-san?" I hedged. I wasn't sure whether or not I was allowed to talk now that the ceremony had begun, but nobody had told me that it was forbidden so I chanced it.

A tired grunt was my answer but I ploughed on.

"What are those things on your blade for?"

Kintamaru opened a sleepy eye, before closing it again with a shrug.

"Not sure. My best guess? A place for my inventions. Can you imagine it? My Kunai-Launcherinator mounted on this sweet baby? It's gonna be awesome!" the boy said with a grin, before exhaustion took a hold of him again.

I blanched at the brief image of a cackling Kintamaru wielding his new weapon like a cannon, kunai, shuriken and senbon spewing forth in a rain of metallic and pointy death. Then I banished the thought, mentally shrugging my shoulders.

As long as he didn't point that monster in my direction, it wasn't my problem.

And then I couldn't wonder anymore about the young smith's maniacal inventions as once again the doors to the First Forge slammed open, showing the large figure of the First Smith.

"Saza Kayoko has bared her soul to the First Forge and crafted a blade from its flame."

Walking past the First Smith, Kayoko's posture didn't betray any of the pure exhaustion that Kintamaru had shown, but then again, she had been in the forge for significantly shorter than the rust-haired boy.

The reason for that quickly became apparent as she walked out without a gargantuan zanbato, or even a sword at all. Instead she carried what appeared to be a kusarigama. A difficult weapon to master to be sure, but in the hands of a master it is a terrifying tool of death.

Kayoko's kusarigama consisted of a long metal chain with each end of the chain tipped with a yellow handle that had a small double-edged and double-pointed scythe blade attached. Three dark grooves appeared below each blade. The weapon was also adorned with yellow dots on the handles, making them appear as if they had eyes.

It wasn't a traditional Hidden Blade weapon, but then again, Kayoko wasn't exactly a traditional Hidden Blade ninja.

Like with Kintamaru, the moment the people laid eyes on my niece's new weapon they went wild with cheers and applause. While it wasn't as impressive looking as Kintamaru's massive blade, it was still recognized as a deadly and impressive weapon in its own right, and a perfect companion to the Iron Sand style.

And then it was my turn.

"Tachi Amakuni, it is time for you to bare your soul and forge your blade. Step into the First Forge."

From the corner of my eye I saw Kayoko give me a nod, while Kintamaru settled for a thumbs-up. I still couldn't tell if he was asleep or even conscious at all.

And then the doors slammed shut behind me and all I felt and saw was _heat_ and _flame_. I was instantly soaked to the bone in sweat, and as I approached the ancient forge I nearly staggered at the insanely high temperatures pressing down on my body.

But I pushed on. I sat down on a small stool in front of the forge itself, its wood dry and cracking from age and the extreme heat.

As I had been instructed to do countless times by my mother for the past month or so, I simply sat there, staring into the flames as I tried to empty my mind. I saw the First Smith making a string of handseals I didn't recognize before my gaze was drawn back to the fire by an invisible force.

I couldn't tell you how long I sat there, except that it was probably shorter than it felt. A fog slowly settled over my senses, pushing all thoughts an worries away, until, at last, my mind was emptied.

Without even really thinking about it, my body rose and began grabbing the raw ore that had already been laid out on a large table in the center of the smithy, and began with smelting the metal. Everything happened automatically and I couldn't find it within my mind to worry about my body moving without any input from my thoughts.

As the raw ore began to refine into usable metals, I started forging my new blade, unconsciously drawing on my Magnet Release to move the steel where I wished it to and manipulating it with my Steel Release, increasing its quality to impossible standards, unable to achieve using mundane methods.

Underneath the blows of my hammer, and the ministrations of my chakra, slowly but surely, my new weapon began to take shape.

I kept hammering away, folding the blade, then folding it yet again, and again, and again, continuing to treat the blade with both my Steel and Magnet Release, increasing its strength, sturdiness and sharpness to untold heights.

After what felt like hours, I took a step back as I felt the unnatural fog lift, bone-crushing exhaustion taking its place.

"It's done." I managed to gasp, before I collapsed to my knees.

There was movement in the corner of my vision, before a large hand clamped itself on my shoulder, helping me to my feet. The First Smith pressed a soldier pill into my hand and told me sternly, but not unkindly, "Eat that. You used a hell of a lot of chakra back there, more than I've seen a young one use in a _long_ time and if I hadn't been supporting you, you'd have burned yourself out hours ago. This should take the edge of at least."

Nodding my thanks, not trusting my voice right now, I swallowed the soldier pill, amazed I still even had a drop of liquid left in my body to swallow with after slaving away before the intense heat of the First Forge. Like the enormous smith had said, the soldier pill immediately took off the edge of my tiredness, allowing me to stand back up on my own power, though I still felt exhausted.

Meanwhile, the First Smith spoke up once more.

"Come, we shall present your blade to the Village. You'll have to make the sheath in your own time, or commission someone to do it for you. Decorations of the blade are up to you, but any serious alterations are frowned upon, with the exception of your inventor friend back there. If it breaks, bring it back to this Forge, you'll never be able to repair it to its previous quality if you use another smithy."

Nodding numbly at the mass of information, I followed the First Smith as he walked towards the double doors, before slamming them open without further ado, scaring the crap out of me.

I could hear a hushed silence fall over the crowd outside, and then the voice of the First Smith calling out.

"Tachi Amakuni has bared his soul to the First Forge and crafted a blade from its flame."

I stepped out of the ancient smithy to the cheering of my Village and the first rays of sunlight peeking over the caldera. Without even really realizing it I lifted my new sword above my head, and the noise from the crowd instantly doubled.

Kintamaru, looking a hell of a lot more rested, and Kayoko, unruffled as always, approached me, looking approvingly at my weapon.

"Dude, impressive. Not impressive as my baby, but still, a nice effort." Kintamaru smirked, but I was too tired to really get into banter right now, so I simply accepted his words with a grateful nod.

"That is a good blade. I hope it serves you well, nii-san." Kayoko said neutrally, but I could tell by her eyes and tone of voice that she was happy for me.

I looked down at my blade, my face morphing into a grin without me even noticing, as I softly wondered aloud.

"I'm sure it will, onee-chan, I'm sure it will."

It wasn't as out of the ordinary as Kintamaru's massive zanbato or even Kayoko's kusarigama, but it was still an unique weapon. My sword was a daitō with a black blade, hilt, and tsuba. The cross guard had four prongs bent out to form the shape of the manji. A short length of chain with a broken link at the end dangled from the base of the hilt.

I could tell, even without testing it, that this blade could cut almost everything and withstand almost anything.

In one word, it was _awesome_ and I loved it.

As the massive doors to the First Forge creaked shut behind us, a man with a long mane of black hair, wearing a sturdy looking trenchcoat, stepped out from the crowd and raised his arms.

"People of the Village Hidden in the Blades, for the first time in our history, I give you: our very own Genin-team!"

As the crowd went absolutely bat-shit insane, we looked at the trenchcoat-wearing man with incredulous looks, as the man lowered his arms, stuffing his hands in his pocket and regarding us with a relaxed, almost bored look on his face.

"And who the hell might you be, huh?!" Kintamaru burst out next to me, his exhaustion chased away by his sheer surprise.

It was Kayoko who answered though, her eyes narrowed and her voice clipped.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked, as the unidentified man sauntered up to us, while around us the Village descended in a lively party.

"He's our Jounin-sensei."


End file.
